Josh would have agreed to join jade rivers immediately, but he didn't want to leave the poker table quite yet. He had just passed the dealer button to his left, meaning he would see a few more free hands before being in the big blind again. Might as well. "I'll be joining you two at the end of this orbit." He was glad he was a mere spectator, too; the player next to him bust after their tablemate turned nines full. Another tablemate went bust two hands later with a two-pair over two-pair hand. "Price of poker's going up, isn't it?" Josh remarked, thankful he only lost some relatively small pre-flop bets before getting out of the way.

On the last hand before he was to leave the table, Josh grinned beneath his helmet; he had pocket Aces! With two people calling a modest raise, that grin grew as a third Ace came to the center of the table. Unbeknownst to him, he had his opponents both flopped dead! Sadly, he wasn't able to extract too much more value out of them, both of them folding to a small bet. "Maaaaaaan... the one time I get Aces and no one has cards. Deal me out."

With that, the young Gym Leader racked up and took his chips with him to the dinner table, joining jade rivers and Makoto Kurumi . "I'm gonna go back down to the poker room when I'm done. Whoo-ee, this is one hoity-toity restaurant," he said the last bit under his breath. Sitting down to look at the menu, it was hard to decide. "If I were to get the Farfetch'd breast, would either of you want my asparagus? I'm usually not that picky of an eater, but I don't care for the texture of asparagus."

He turned his head to Makoto Kurumi at their inquiry. "This... is not my first time here. I came mostly for the poker. I don't care for other gambling games besides poker. You start winning at blackjack, the casino will accuse you of counting cards." He paused to let the other two interject if they wanted. "There's this really fascinating documentary called Breaking Celadon, about how a team of card counters from Castelia ran casinos for tens of millions of PD playing blackjack. Poker, though? The casino gets paid by a table rake, usually 5%. After that, it's a game of skill."

After the three placed their orders, Josh counted out his stack of casino chips. He had slightly less than he started the session with, meaning he would likely have to dip into his second metaphorical clip to top off his stack before returning to the table. "Have either of you been to Dewford since April?" the Gym Leader casually asked, unknowing one of his fiercest combatants that day was sitting at the table with him. "I've heard the new Gym Leader-elect, Michael Navidson , is doing a bang-up job," he continued as he stroked Janus' purple, luxurious fur.

In the staff room, Howard was playing cards with his Baltoy, Crumble. For once, he was dressed relatively well. Staff uniform, clean hands, relatively nice smelling, Howard looked less like the local homeless archaeologist and more like a handsome waiter who would serve you overpriced gateau. He had even taken off his makeshift eyepatch, and both eyes were narrowed as he he glimpsed his hand.

If anything, Howard wished he was still a homeless archaeologist. He would be, if he hadn't been dragged out here for a job by a certain grunt—

The door opened, and Shred entered. Speak of the devil.

Shred had gotten him a job as a dishwasher, and the pay was adequate. Yet the suit and working at a party wasn't something an archaeologist should be seen doing. What if some League spy snapped a photo? What if his cover was blown? In that sense, at least he was just washing dishes, and not serving upper brass.

"Yo, Zeppelin." Howard raised a hand in greeting as he turned to the grunt. He quickly snapped back as Crumble attempted to float the cards away to stack the deck. He glared at the Baltoy, who sheepishly returned the deck to normal. "Have you watched as our wonderful patrons order the dishes that, incidentally, make the most dishes possible?

Man, he hated this job.

---

Shred Zeppelin

It seemed it was about time to eat. As Yumi Hasegawa turned her attentions to her meal, Makoto would give the Rocket exec a respectful nod, before going to join Josh Devlin at his table.

The question of asparagus would be met with a brief blink from Makoto - and they'd glance over to Josh to give him a half-puzzled look. "I... suppose I'd eat it?" They responded, seemingly not expecting the offer made, if the glance towards jade rivers was of any indication. Looking back at the menu though, they supposed they'd go for the seafood option - one couldn't go wrong with fresh made bread on the side to soak up the sauce with, and it probably would go nicely with asparagus, right?

It sounded as though Josh was here for the card games ultimately, though. They nodded along at this - musing out loud "It's more entertaining to compete against one another with cards, than to repeatedly pull the lever of a slot machine." Certainly, the bells and whistles and flashing lights such machines had were made to excite and hook you - but Makoto couldn't help but find it just a bit too out of one's own control for their liking.

Once the orders were made though, the subject shifted to that of Dewford, and Makoto blinked. "I... don't believe so, no," They responded - adding "I hear the fighting had made a real mess of the place, though." Which they knew cause they'd been there - but of course, they didn't want to say that much.

There was a new Gym Leader in the wings? Makoto blinked - surprised, yet also interested at this news - before nodding. "Wishing him well on his job, then. I imagine I'll barely even know that there'd been any fighting next time I visit, if he's doing as great as you say." Of course, assuming they decided to head to Dewford again at all - they weren't wholly keen on returning to Ultra Deep Sea anytime soon, and they didn't have the biggest interest in gym challenges.

TLDR/NOTES:

SPOILER: Click to show

- Makoto is dressed in a black Victorian-style dress with lace + a black-purple glittery masquerade mask, with purple lipstick and extensions for a shoulder-blades long braid. Kuro is hidden in their shadow, using illusions to give them lifelike dark fairy wings.
- Makoto sits down with Josh at one of the dinner tables (Prompt: Sit with someone)
- They're a little puzzled at the offer of asparagus, but otherwise accepts it.
- Decides to have the Magikarp Cheeks and other such seafood. (Prompt: Order Dinner)
- Discusses Dewford (mentioning the prior fighting) + the new gym-leader-to-be with Josh (Prompt: Discuss recent events)

"Howard, I think I hate every single person with more than a thousand Pokedollars in their pocket."

You don't mince words. As soon as you're out of the earshot of the public, any pretence of politeness crumbles. Though, considering how flimsy that pretence was, the difference isn't particularly vast. No, really, it's more just about saying the quiet part out loud. But if someone with a service job complains in a forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does they even make a sound?

...Okay, well, the archaeologist is here, but he's here with you, also working a service job. He's basically just another tree in the woods. Wait, no, that would make you also a tree, and you're not a tree. No, he'd just be a different person in a different forest, or maybe the same forest, but just so far away that the two of you can't hear each other. Which... Look, it's a shit metaphor, alright? But you're a low-rank thug working part time as a bartender, not a warrior poet. People shouldn't be expecting any better from you.

"Bastards think they're better than me, drinking their fancy drinks with their fancy clothes..." You grumble, pausing to take a sip of your swindled beer. "I went to an alternate dimension last month, Howard. I've captured an enigma unknown to modern science in a Pokeball. You, well... You've probably done something worthwhile at some point in your life, too. And yet, here we are in here, and there they are out there."

You breath the world's tiniest sigh. Well, that's enough complaining for now. You don't want to hit your threshold for bitterness too early, lest things get worse later in the night. Instead, you decide to change the subject, leaning over to the left to look at Baltoy's grip of cards, before glancing over to Howard.

"How's your hand?"

---

Shred speaks about Recent Events gets a Type 2 Evo.
howard slayte

"That's too high." Howard said simply as he brushed a lock of hair behind his ear. Without a hat, his hair seemed to flutter about in the room's air conditioning. Should he consider getting a haircut? The thought barely fired off before it was immediately shot down by Howard's cognitive thinking.

No, absolutely not.

"And it's not 'think'." Howard continued as he gave Shred a once-over. He elected not to mention the stench of alcohol emanating from Shred. He was a bartender, and it was likely that the man had spilled alcohol over himself as he resisted the urge to throttle anyone with more money than him. That was to say, everyone in the club.

Everyone but Howard, anyway.

"You know you hate rich people." Howard said as he glanced over his hand. "A lot of them will tell you about their rise to wealth and whatnot, but there is always someone out there who works harder and makes less. Society. A thousand Pokedollars is too much, anyway. Make it a hundred, and I might agree." You could tell a lot about a person based on how much money they kept in their pockets. That was often how much they were willing to lose.

"I'm not that impressive, man. I go spelunking after the Battle of Dewford, right... Fossil hunting, since Granite Cave was pretty disturbed. Get dragged off into a cave by some Mawiles, and sway them with two saltine crackers. Two. You try mentioning a swarm anything with two of something. Worst part? None of the fossils I found were in good shape. Utterly wrecked by the battle." Howard seemed to be on the verge of tears for a moment, before coughing into his fist. "I'm fine. I'm fine."

Howard glanced at Shred, and then back at his hand. No pairs, the highest value was a four, with no matching suits.

"...pretty good." Howard said evenly.

---

TL;DR - Howard rages about the Battle of Dewford for a type 2 evolution
Prepares to lose his own money to his own Pokémon
He's still broke, boyos
Shred Zeppelin